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Using iBook in London for 20 days (Part 2)

The service apartment I stayed for 3 weeks provided wireless access to Internet. As my iBook already equipped AirPort (11b only), there is no problem for getting wireless access. After I gave out my Mac address of Airport to the apartment staff, the access was ready within minutes. Of course, the service apartment also offer secure access using WEP, but I didn't do so as I will be using Cisco VPN to access office computers in Hong Kong.

After fired up Cisco VPN and successfully login, I connect to my office desktop remotely using Microsoft Remote Desktop. Apart from the jerky response of remote desktop and using single mouse button in Windows, all are the same like I were in my Office.

In London office, I also used the same way to access the desktop PC in Hong Kong, except that I did not need Cisco VPN as the two offices are already connected by VPN. However, I stayed most of the time in the client office. It is unfortune that it did not allow me to access the Internet using my own iBook because of security concern. Hence, my iBook immediately became document browser most of the time...

After office hour, my iBook became an entertainment center. iTunes and DVD player were my favourite and most frequently used applications. Apart from that, I had taken some photos with my Canon S30 when I played around in London like Greenwich, Windsor Castle and British Museum in weekends. Therefore, iPhoto was my companion for managing digital photos. The photos I shooted is available at photos.punknix.com

At night, I also played a favourite game, Ultima VII, using the Mac OS X port of Exult. However, the one-button trackpad gave me the biggest trouble in playing U7 and I didn't bring an extra two-button mouse, I then decided to watch Euro 2004 on TV instead.

In conclusion, during my 3-week trip in London, my iBook served a very good PC notebook replacement. Not only I have no problem for business activities such as Internet access, emails and Microsoft Office, but also I can enjoy the extra entertainment from the wonderful application provided by iTunes, iPhotos and DVD player. I think a typical PC notebook might not be able to provide such things better than a Mac.